The 4Ss, 6Ms and 8Ps of business

Do you know what are the 4Ss, 6Ms and 8Ps of business?

Well, the 4Ss, 6Ms and 8Ps define key elements in a business from 3 different perspectives.

The 4Ss are:

• Skills
• Surroundings
• Suppliers
• Systems

The 6Ms are:

• Men
• Money
• Markets
• Methods
• Machines
• Materials

And the 8Ps are:

• People
• Process
• Policies
• Procedures
• Price
• Promotions
• Places/Plants
• Products

In these 3 different prespectives, do you notice they all start with one common factor, which is:

Skills = Men = Peoples = Human resources

Undeniably, human resources are the most important element in the business. Without Skills, the rest of the Ss mean nothing; Without Men, the rest of the Ms also mean nothing; and without People, the rest of the Ps mean nothing.

Realising this is very important, so that:

• When implementing Enterprise Resource System (ERP), you should put emphasis on the human resources (users) more than the infrastructure, data, information, etc.
• If you are a boss, you know which part of your business is the most important one, that you might affort to lost the others, but definitely not this one, in order to sustain your business.
• If you are a financial controller, you should know how to better control the company's financial in the way that will not deteriorate the company.
• If you are an employee, you should know why you need the certifications and continuous improvement on your knowledge and skillsets, which are actually your core value to contribute to your company.